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Torpedo Launchers
Firing a torpedo, whether it be a Photon or Transphasic, is more than just saying 'Fire Torpedos!'. First the torpedo casing needs to be brought down from its storage area by the torpedo conveyor, then its passed through the Reactant Loader, after that, the torpedo is loaded into the Launcher Coil Assembly, and is finally fired. The Torpedo Conveyor is simply a long mechanism starting in the Torpedo Storage room ending at the Launcher Assembly, with a single pause at the Reactant Loader. Torpedo Casings are loaded onto the conveyor by an automated system directed by the Tactical Console on the bridge, or by a console near the Launcher Coils. Before the Conveyor takes the torpedo all the way to the Launcher Coils, the torpedo stops at the Reactant Loader. Now while the Conveyor system and the launcher are basicly the same for all launchers, no matter the type, the Reactant Loader is specific to the type of torpedo coming through the belt. Photon torpedos are loaded with both matter in the form of Deuterium and anti-matter, being anti-deuterium, the same reatants used in the warp cores of federation vessels. Each torpedo has different reactants loaded into their reactant chamber, which is located in different locations for different torpedos. For this reason reactant loaders are made for a specific type of torpedo, and cannot be used for a different torpedo type. Loaders can be made to accomadate multiple torpedo types thus making it more variable and able to accomadate easier to a wider variety of situations. Standard loaders can load up to four(4) torpedos at a time. A standard Launcher Coil Assembly is a 32 meter long tritanium and sarium farnide cylinder with a holding partition the the most inside end of the Launcher, a set of magnetic coils to accelerate the torpedo leading from the holding partition to the end of the launcher cylinder, these coils accelerate the torpedo once it has started moving. To start a projectiles motion, a gas generator located behind the cylinder, releases a torrent of built up gasses, forcing the projectile into the magnetic coils. Probes can also be ejected from the torpedo launcher without much trouble. After something has been fired out of the launcher it is flash sterilized to remove any forign particals that interfere with further use of the launcher. In addition to the different types of Reactant Loaders, there are a few variations of the Launcher Assembly itself that act very differently from the others, and serve different purposes. They are as follows: Standard Torpedo Launcher The standard launcher follows the explination in paragraph four, on the Launcher Coil Assembly. It normally fires a single torpedo of a given type, detemined by the Reactant Loader, at a time, but can be "backed up" by holding loaded torpedos between the Reactant Loader and the actual Launcher Coils to quickly fire them one after the other, commonly known as a 'spread'. Depending on the ship design the conveyor can usually hold up to 10 torpedos at once to release at once. Burst-Fire Torpedo Launcher As captains began using the 'Torpedo Spread', it occasionally caused hardware issues that could arise at the most inconvenient of times. To this end Starfleet produced the Burst-Fire torpedo launcher, a launcher designed to fire spreads. This launcher comes in four varieties, each different in power. Type 1: *A type 1 Burst-Fire launcher fires four(4) torpedos every 2.83 seconds. Type 2: *Type 2 fires up to eight(8) torpedos every 5 seconds Type 3: *Type 3 fires up to ten(10) torpedos every 5 seconds Type 4: *Type 4 fires up to twelve(12) torpedos every 5 seconds Pulse-Fire Torpedo A modification on the Burst-Fire launcher, this laucher loads four torpedoes in three seconds, then fires all four in one second, then repeats the process. Rapid-Fire Torpedo Launcher The Rapid-Fire Torpedo Launcher is the most advanced launcher designed, firing four torpedos every second. Now while this process can be extreamly damaging to an enemy ship, it is just as draining on ship resources, power, for moving, launching, and equipping, physical resources, matter, anti-matter, and maybe even raw warp plasma. Category:Technology